My first visit to Caption was a resounding success. After the usual shouting match, we headed off down the M40 on Saturday, Dan in the back and Richy K's stock in the boot. 45 minutes later, we rolled up outside the East Oxford Community Centre. The location was lovely and funky, run by a couple of sweet guys to the wonderful sound of classic roots reggae.
The communal table system worked very well: free to hang out with old mates, meet new ones, draw (a bit), and drink. And be really envious of Karen Rubins' position as Comic Artist in Residence at the V&A (couldn't have happened to a nicer person).
Garen Ewing's inspirational long journey to mainstream publication and Sarah Macintyre's look at children's picture books were the other two talks I made it to.
Nick got to chill out , drink beer, read the paper and get invited back to DJ there in October...
I got my hands on Paul Rainey's gem of a
Book of Lists, laugh out loud funny and gleaming like a little jewell in glorious gorgeous glossy full colour. This is far more than some one-joke humour book, this is a portrait of a very engaging character, built up through an accumulation of little snippets of information, a judicious use of repetition, warm and wonderfully candid in its revelation. Above all it is human, I may not be a bald single middle-aged male, but I can identify with his anxiety, his anger, his embarrassment and his joy. Get youself a copy
HERE.
And to cap it all, had we not stayed in such a ridiculously overpriced hotel, my sales would have covered our expenses...
